Delivering easy to use content to mobile devices today is difficult for the content provider. There are many different mobile devices which have different functions, and many more are expected to surface over the near term. There are many content variables which must be taken into account when delivering content to a mobile device. Enterprises and content providers must deliver the “right” content for each requesting device by taking into account content variables associated with the requesting mobile device. Typically, mobile devices have fewer resources available (compared with a personal computer) with which to render content for a user. Content variables include differences in device languages, device display characteristics, device input methods, character encoding methods, and user preferences. Wireless devices use different types of languages such as WML, HDML, HTML, compact-HTML and Palm™ webClippings. Additionally, even when two devices employ the same language, there is no guarantee that they each interpret and render content the same way. For example, the way WML is rendered on Nokia devices is very different from the way it is rendered on devices from other manufacturers. Device displays represent another content variable.
There is a large variation in the way content is displayed across different handheld devices. Some displays are long and some are wide. Some browsers can display images and some can not display images. Some displays support color in various depths, some displays support grayscale images, and some displays support only black and white images. Moreover, resolution and legibility vary differently from display size. Content geared for mobile devices must be able to overcome these content variables while delivering relevant content.
Another content variable is the method used by the wireless device for device input. Mobile phones usually only have a numeric keypad, while PDAs have stylus input. Some devices like the RIM Blackberry™ have a full keyboard while other devices support voice commands. Character encoding represents an addition content variable that content providers must take into account when delivering content to wireless devices. Some devices require content to be delivered using a special character encoding. For example, i-mode phones require content in Shift-JIS encoding in order for Japanese characters to appear correctly. An additional type of content variable is caused by the accommodation of user preferences. User may specify a particular language in which they wish to receive the content, such as French. Alternatively, users may prefer to see only text content in order to speed up content delivery, or prefer to see graphics-rich content on their color PDA display.
Conventional methods used by web site developers to deal with content variables have been inadequate. Typically, web site developers have attempted to provide content to multiple types of wireless devices by providing multiple versions of web sites, stripping down content into a lowest common denominator approach, or by utilizing web scraping technology (explained below) to create content for the requesting wireless device out of content appearing on a regular HTML web site. All of the approaches produce inadequate results. Maintaining multiple versions of a web site for different wireless devices is costly from both a time, human capital and monetary perspective. Presenting only basic content, such as text-only content, on a web site deprives requesting users of full featured wireless devices of features present in their devices. Additionally, the approach will still will not present content that all devices can accept (i.e.: there is no lowest common denominator that works for all devices). Web scraping is a technique by which useful information, either regarding the content, the layout, or the appearance of a web page, is obtained from the page received by the browser rather than using the content source (possibly a JSP or ASP) or an interface link to the application that generated the content. However, HTML content from a standard web site is not readily adaptable for mobile devices, a fact which often results in a translation of HTML content that is often imperfect and difficult to navigate on a requesting mobile device (possibly producing gibberish or unintelligible text).